In many ways the European Union has been a wildly successful experiment in supranationalism, but it's attempts at a common foreign policy have floundered in the past. Steps to right these failures began with the passage of the Lisbon Treaty and have continued at a slow and steady pace since. Another step in that process took place yesterday when the EU Foreign Policy chief Catherine Ashton appointed 28 ambassadors for Europe. They will be members of the new European External Action Service (EEAS) and will represent no individual state but instead the whole of the EU. They are drawn both from foreign services and from the EU's existing supranational bodies. They are the latest step in making sure that Europe speaks with one voice.
This is definitely a step in the right direction but there are still many more to take and success is still far from assured. There are a number of posts that still need filling, including important ambassadorships like those to Brazil and Iraq, plus many lower ranking positions. The biggest immediate threat to the EEAS is that it still hasn't been funded yet and that may prove a high hurtle to overcome at a time when everyone's trying to slim budgets. In the longer term the question of whether EU member states will see it as representative or whether their own foreign policies will run in parallel has yet to be answered.
The list of European Ambassadors can be found Here .
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